State Secretary Parízek ceremonially opens the honorary consulate of SR in Bengaluru

27.9.2017 | Aktivity štátnych tajomníkov |

State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Lukáš Parízek, visited South India’s Bengaluru today (27 September) and held talks with leading officials from the local government and ceremonially opened the Consular Office of the Slovak Republic. This already is the third honorary consulate in the Republic of India and covers the states of Karnataka and Kerala and its role, besides providing consular assistance to Slovak citizens, will also be fostering the development of economic, trade and other contacts between Slovakia and India.

“I believe the new consulate will be able to effectively and reliably promote trade and investment relations and will support our embassy in Delhi in future development of top level bilateral relations. Slovakia is interested in continuing the traditional collaboration in the machinery and automotive industries and focusing on new industries such as IT, biotechnologies, start-ups and the green economy in India,” noted State Secretary Parízek in his address at the opening ceremony for the honorary consulate. He expressed his conviction that the new Slovak Honorary Consul, Dr. C. J. Roy, will foster the development not only of commercial and economic relations between the two countries but will also play the role of a catalyst to boost relations in social, cultural and other areas.

India is the fifth most important export territory for the Slovak Republic in Asia. The trade turnover was €313.3 million in 2016, and Slovak exports exceeded €50 million. Jaguar Land Rover, a part of the Indian TATA Group conglomerate since 2008, ranks among the major investors (€1.5 billion) in Slovakia.

India, with a gross domestic product of USD 2,263.5 billion ranks as the 7th largest global economy and is among the ones with the fastest growth rate in the world. The government policy is oriented at improving the business environment, fostering self-sufficiency of Indian firms and cooperation with foreign investment capital.